In his first NLL season, Rock's Reindholdt has risen to the challenge

Reid Reinholdt is really enjoying his first National Lacrosse League season.

One of the rookies on the Toronto Rock roster, the 24-year-old B.C. native rose to the spotlight last weekend, scoring the tying and winning goals in a 12-11 road win in overtime against the Georgia Swarm and scoring twice more in a 13-7 home win against the Vancouver Stealth.

Those gave him 10 on the season, tying him with teammate Kieran McArdle for fifth amongst league rookies, and made him a go-to offensive threat as the team continues its playoff push with games in Vancouver and New England this weekend.

It was a struggle for Reinholdt early, as he saw spot duty during the first half of the season, while adjusting to the pace of the NLL.

“It’s a lot faster and you have to protect your own end, which is what I had some problems with for sure,” he said. “Those 50-50 balls at centre, I would go after them instead of protecting our end so that was something I had to work on.”

However, he is also loving the opportunity to play amongst the best in the world.

“I’ve never played with such elite guys and they make it easy to play out there,” he said. “They move the ball so well and get open.”

The Rock (8-5) went into last weekend facing the possibility of being bumped out of the top three in the NLL east. But instead, it put a two-game cushion over the New England Black Wolves and 2½ games on the Buffalo Bandits. New England lost at Calgary while Buffalo blew a lead late at Rochester. The Rock also moved to within a half-game of the Swarm for first place.

Now comes one of the most interesting road trips any team in the league can take, one that will involve more than 10,000 km in air and bus travel. First, the guys travel west to the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. to face the Stealth (10:30 p.m.). Vancouver (5-8) is just a half-game ahead of the Calgary Roughnecks for the final playoff spot in the west and is looking to get to the front of the net more consistently than it did at the Air Canada Centre last Saturday. Corey Small (82 points) and Rhys Duch (62) both scored against Toronto but were not really factors.

After that game, the Rock travel from the west coast to the east coast and a game against the Black Wolves in Uncasville, Conn. (Sunday 1 p.m.).

The Rock will have 15-year veteran defender Patrick Merrill back in the lineup on Friday. Merrill has not played since January, 2016, recovering from knee surgery.